A superhydrophobic surface exhibits a sessile water contact angle of greater than 150°. If, additionally, the surface exhibits a water droplet roll-off (sliding) angle of less than 10% the surface is deemed to be “self-cleaning”. In nature, lotus leaves exhibit such properties (so-called lotus effect). Most of man-made materials, such as fabrics, nonwovens, cellulose tissues, polymer films, etc., do not have surfaces with such properties. Currently, there are generally two methods to modify a non-superhydrophobic surface to achieve the lotus effect. One method is to graft a hydrophobic monomer onto every surface of a non-superhydrophobic material. Such a method makes the material superhydrophobic throughout the thickness of the material, which may not be desired in most cases. It is also not cost effective, cannot be used for a continuous production, and may lead to undesirable environment issues. Another approach is to coat a specially formulated liquid dispersion onto a surface, and upon subsequent drying, a nano-structured superhydrophobic film forms. In order to utilize such an approach, the deposited film must exhibit a chemical and physical morphology characteristic of superhydrophobic surfaces. First, the formulation requires at least one low-surface energy (i.e., hydrophobic) component, such as a perfluorinated polymer (e.g., polytetrafluoroethylene), and second, the treated surface has to have a rough surface texture, preferably at several length-scales—micro and nano-roughness. Although various formulated dispersions capable of achieving a superhydrophobic surface exist, none of these dispersions appear to be purely water-based. For a multitude of safety, health, economic, and environmental issues, it is also important that the dispersion be fully aqueous-based when regarding commercial scale production, as this will decrease concerns associated with the use of organic solvents.